Rifka's family learns Nathan has deserted the Russian army and that Saul will soon be conscripted, forcing the family to flee immediately.

Rifka distracts Russian soldiers on the train platform with conversation while her family hides in boxcars, awaiting departure.

Uncle Avrum stages a fake break-in at his factory, drawing soldiers away and allowing the family's train to depart safely.

At the Polish border, the family is forced to strip naked for a health inspection and Mama's brass candlesticks are stolen.

Rifka and her whole family contract typhus in Poland, forcing Mama, Papa, and Nathan into a hospital while Saul cares for Rifka.

The family recovers from typhus and travels to Warsaw to collect steamship tickets left by Rifka's brothers already living in America.

A Warsaw doctor diagnoses Rifka with ringworm and informs the family she will be turned away if she boards the steamship.

A HIAS worker advises Rifka's family to sail to America without her while Rifka stays in Antwerp, Belgium, for treatment.

Rifka travels to Antwerp and stays with a kind couple named Gaston and Marie, where she receives treatment for her ringworm.

Rifka receives medical clearance in Antwerp and secures a ticket on a small ship for the transatlantic voyage to America.

A fierce ocean storm strikes Rifka's ship, and sailor Pieter saves her from being swept overboard before dying in the storm.

Rifka arrives at Ellis Island but is detained and told she cannot enter the United States because her hair has not grown back.

Rifka befriends Ilya, a Russian peasant boy on hunger strike at the Ellis Island detention hospital, and convinces him to eat again.

At an immigration hearing, Ilya reads Rifka's poem aloud, impressing officials who agree to admit both him and Rifka into America.

A doctor discovers that Rifka's hair has finally begun to grow back, and Rifka is reunited with her whole family in America.

Rifka's Jewish family flees persecution in Russia when her brother is at risk of being conscripted into the army, escaping by train across the border into Poland. In Poland, Rifka contracts ringworm and must be left behind in Antwerp, Belgium, to recover while the rest of her family sails on to America. After months of treatment, Rifka boards a small ship alone and crosses the Atlantic, surviving a deadly storm that kills her friend Pieter. On Ellis Island, she is detained because officials fear her baldness will make her unable to find a husband and thus a financial burden on the state. Her courage, linguistic talent, and the reading of her own poetry ultimately persuade the officials to grant her entry. She is finally reunited with her family and begins a new life in America.

Rifka's escape from Russia to America's shores.

Nathan deserts his forced labor with the Russian army and secretly returns home to warn his family to flee before dawn.

Rifka chats fluently with suspicious Russian soldiers using her natural Russian accent to avoid revealing that she and her family are Jewish.

The family crosses into Poland, and Rifka notes that Poland looks no different from Berdichev, making her wonder what America will be like.

Saul moves Rifka into an inn and takes a job picking apples in an orchard to pay for their room while she recovers.

The innkeeper's daughter steals the portion of breakfast Rifka had saved to eat later, leaving Rifka angry and hungry.

A hospital doctor tells Rifka that because she has already survived typhus, she can safely visit her recovering mother in the ward.

On the crowded train to Warsaw, Rifka notices a sick Polish peasant girl holding a baby and offers to fix her hair.

The family attempts to bribe Warsaw officials to allow Rifka to board the steamship to America, but the bribe fails.

Rifka spends the family's entire food budget on a single overpriced orange after being swindled by a dishonest salesman in Warsaw.

Rifka's mother gives her a gold locket and chain and her father gives his prayer shawl as the family says goodbye.

After getting lost exploring Antwerp, Rifka is driven safely home by a kind milkman who reminds her of her Uncle Zeb.

Rifka makes friends in Antwerp, learns the Flemish language, and discovers new treats including chocolate, bananas, and ice cream.

While detained at Ellis Island, Rifka volunteers at the hospital, interpreting for Polish and Russian patients who cannot speak English.

Saul visits Rifka at the Ellis Island detention hospital and is amazed to find her already speaking English fluently after just days.

Rifka gives Saul money she saved while in Antwerp and asks him to buy new brass candlesticks to replace the stolen ones.

The earliest events reveal the specific people and decisions surrounding the family's flight, from Nathan's desperate late-night warning to the daily hardships Rifka faces in Poland while recovering from typhus under Saul's reluctant care. The story moves through Warsaw, where the family is swindled, their bribe fails, and a painful farewell takes place before Rifka is left behind to head to Belgium alone. In Antwerp, Rifka gradually finds her footing by exploring the city, making new friends, and learning yet another language, slowly transforming her grief into resilience. On Ellis Island, her remarkable practical empathy comes to the fore as she volunteers as an interpreter and caregiver for those around her. The reunion with Saul marks a turning point, as both siblings discover how much the other has grown during their year apart. The pool closes with a quiet act of selflessness as Rifka uses her carefully saved money to help restore what the family lost at the Polish border.

The people and moments that shaped Rifka's journey.

Rifka's father tells her that her blonde curly hair means she does not look Jewish, assigning her to keep watch from the train platform.

Rifka has a nightmare in which dozens of hands reach out to steal the brass candlesticks, and she scratches herself bloody in her sleep.

During her recovery in Poland, Rifka quickly masters the Polish language, further revealing the gift for languages that will define her journey.

Belgian doctors confirm Rifka's ringworm is healed but warn that her hair may never grow back, threatening her chances of entering America.

Rifka realizes she cannot return to Berdichev and writes to Tovah that she feels like an orphan now that her family has left.

Alone in Antwerp on her 13th birthday, Rifka creates her own private bat mitzvah ceremony using a handmade Star of David.

Rifka runs out of blank pages in the Pushkin book and begins writing her letters in the margins, hoping to one day send them.

Nun Sister Katrina tends to Rifka's ringworm wounds in Antwerp and encourages her to stop hiding in her room and explore the city.

After sailor Pieter kisses Rifka, she searches Pushkin's poetry for words to express her feelings and decides she wants to write her own poems.

Pieter's death in the ocean storm leads Rifka to reflect that all people are defenseless and vulnerable, not only Jews.

A HIAS worker at Ellis Island reveals that officials worry Rifka cannot attract a husband without hair and will become a social burden.

Rifka boldly declares to immigration officials that she will marry with or without hair, refusing to be judged solely on her appearance.

Saul and Ilya fight over the Pushkin book during Saul's visit to the detention hospital, and Rifka's handmade Star of David breaks apart.

The Polish baby Rifka has been lovingly caring for at the Ellis Island hospital dies of typhus just before her immigration hearing.

Rifka's mother visits the Ellis Island detention hospital and brings a belated birthday honey cake, and the two discuss Rifka's missing hair.

This pool traces the pivotal decisions and emotional revelations that transform Rifka from a naive twelve-year-old into a self-assured young woman. Her blonde hair first marks her as the family's protector during the escape but later, once lost to ringworm, becomes the source of her greatest obstacle to entering America. During her long solitary months in Antwerp, Rifka independently marks her own coming-of-age, discovers herself as a writer, and learns to embrace a world beyond Russia's borders. The transatlantic voyage tests her emotionally when a brief friendship with Pieter ends in tragedy and permanently shifts her understanding of human vulnerability. On Ellis Island, Rifka refuses to accept the officials' reductive judgment of her worth and fights for entry on her own terms. The pool closes with small but deeply meaningful moments of reunion, loss, and restoration that show just how profoundly Rifka has changed.